The Courage Performance Blog

So I mentioned yesterday about getting the handstand push up (HSPU) finally, here is how it all happened (this is going to be a bit of a geek-out post, just a heads up...:

First, let's talk about what was going on before yesterdays joyous discovery. I basically had convinced myself that i had fundamental inability to perform a decent HSPU. Talking with a handful of experts I had come to a couple things: try to engage maximal muscle use, and work on stimulating smaller muscles in and around the shoulder in case any of them shut down in the HSPU position. The first of these is that I would need to look at the exercises in the same way one looks at an overhead press. With the understanding of powerlifting I have, that means to poof the chest out a little bit, allow the back to arch a bit as to get the chest engaged enough to help the pushing action. While your body is no longer in the neutral position, you can basically just muscle through the movement, if you are strong enough. The second part was to focus on the muscles used for the movement, roll out all the small ones and hope that I could "awaken" them enough to help when I needed them. Both seemed like pretty logical fixes that made a ton of sense to me. But, both did not work in any possible way. As mentioned in an earlier post, if you had been there you would have had the same face of sheer confusion as i struggled with just about every hand position, kipping style and so on that I could. I was able to get 3 total reps out of about 20+ attempts. My mindset had basically become: "grind the gears" a little (attempt to get reps whenever I could) and just prey that something awesome would happen come Friday with the workout.

Then, after a few days of bombarding the Internet looking for any and every possible hint of help and advice (my boy Jim Bathurst's site Beast Skills was very helpful for little tidbits), I finally came across Carl Paoli's blog Gymnastics WOD. Carl is a gymnast and trainer out of CrossFit San Francisco that I met a couple times while living out there, and he has some really awesome pointers for people looking to get a bit better gymnastics skills. He posted up a handful of videos on how to improve some points needed for the coming CrossFit Regionals. The first two were on the HSPU and after watching the first one, well, it was like a freaking miracle. I hopped up tot eh wall and banged out 5 solid, smooth, comfortable reps. It was only a couple hours later that I got 6 reps with a 2-inch deficit, giving me an entirely refreshed sense of excitement for the coming event!There was one main thing that he talked about that helped the most, but honestly it was the combination of three things, along with a realization about how the body works that got things rolling for me.First, he talked about alignment of the arms and where your hands should be positioned so that your body would be most efficiently utilized (rather than going crazy here, check out the video I link through to, it’ll explain it pretty well).Next, it was how to kip.I had been attempted to kip with a major jerk form the knee joint.Carl explains that this forces you out of a “hollow”, supported position very quickly and I found that the second I fall out of that position, well, I fail.So, I needed to be sure my kip was such that my hollow position was held.Well shoot, I actually forgot one more before the main point!This is where the head should be when lowered.Carl suggests to bring the head down so to create a tripod between it and your two hands, this allows a more stable base that again helps to keep the hollow position AND in turn, a stronger press.The final, and the most effective point for me was simply to tuck the chin.I had been focusing so much on looking at the floor (like I am in the picture above) and this basically was forcing me completely out of an effective position and zapping all power out of my body.The second I tucked my chin (and focused on those other points) I got them! So, what did I realize on my own about all this?I had been focusing on replicating the overhead press for the HSPU and this actually turned out to NOT be a smart move!The overhead press is an open kinetic chain exercise, meaning your limbs are moving through space (you press against something hard enough that IT moves); while the HSPU is a closed kinetic chain exercise (you push against something so hard YOU move).These demand totally different things from your body.With open chain movements, it’s all about engaging more muscle; that is why a slight arch in the back and a poofed out chest on an overhead press is so helpful, you are using more muscle.In closed chain movement, alignment is king.If you are not aligned perfectly, you are killing your ability to move efficiently, you are draining power. This closed and open chain movement concept, while learned in basic personal training certification tests, seems to have much deeper impact on how we function.And as a trainer I am always searching for new and improved ways to approach how to get better.This just makes sense to me, so much!It is also a pretty new concept to be taken this seriously by me so I am still in the process of understanding it at a greater level.Meaning: I am open to discussion.Moral of the story is twofold: when you feel like you just cannot do something, try to think outside the box a little.And, not every movement is created equal, even if it the same movement.This explains why some dude who can bench press 400 pounds can not do more than 30 push ups (by the way, it is almost always transferable the other way; a gymnast can translate his/her abilities quicker to a barbell than a barbell practitioner could translate to gymnastics).Something to consider very seriously: before trying to set a personal record on the power and Olympic lifts, perhaps try to perfect some of the main gymnastics movements first.You’re barbell lifts will benefit that much more from it.

Time for another little workout-update post! Yesterday I got things started off with a nice 30ish minute run in the crazy heat and humidity; then, after about 5 hours and some damn good food, I hit my barbell work. I started things off with 3 warm up rounds of 5 kipping handstand push ups, 10 30 in. box jumps and 15 KB swings at 53#. Here's where thongs stated going wrong for me. I couldn't even get the HSPU's with a kip! Damn it! Beyond frustrating to me (more on this in a bit). Well, in my frustration I failed to get my legs all the way up around the 6th rep of the final round of jumps and the box decided to take about a 1-inch tear of shin skin from me. Ouch. After I peeled it off the box and cleaned my wound (the thing swelled up like CRAZY), I set up my bar for snatch work.

3x5 hang power snatch3x5 power snatch to OH squat3x5 squat snatch

I actually felt halfway decent throughout these reps and by the time I got to my final set of squat snatches, i was able to bang out 3 pretty solid reps at 165#. At that point I had complete CNS (central nervous system) failure. Basically, I couldn't fathom getting that bar over my head for another rep and I intelligently called it quits on the session. I had programmed in a short metcon for the evening but I was really feeling beat up and I opted for a little extra recovery; very smart move. Oh, and my shin was, and still is killing me!

Today I woke up early, and after standing at the side of the pool for a good 10 minutes, finally jumped in and di soe easy laps for about 25 minutes. Later on in the day i rode my bike into DC to meet up with Jimmy and Ori for lunch, both trainers and good friends of mine. We geeked out about fitness for a couple hours and then I went over to Balance Gym Glover Park to work a little more on my miserable HSPU and get a little recovery work in the steam room. My non-technical conclusion on my HSPU abilities: I can't do them. My more technical perspective: it appears as though I lack the ability to engage a specific set of muscles when I am stressed in a very specific position such as the HSPU. While this is pretty uncommon at such a level, it is common enough for trainers and such to have heard of it, but my shoulders basically shut down when they are loaded in a very specific way. This really does seem to be the issue and the concept is strengthened by the fact that when I widen my stance and turn my hands out, i am able to get 3 reps (with a kip mind you). But with a normal hand and arm position, I literally just hit a wall and CAN NOT get even close to a lock-out. No joke people. Ori was at a complete loss for words. It appears to make absolutely zero sense that a person with my level of strength can not do this, at all, with so much practice and focused attention, still nothing. Conclusion? Grind The Gears. What this means is that I will do reps as often as possible in the only position my body allows me to do them, and hopefully something will just click by next week. After that, I will be doing some serious supportive work to figue out exactly where I shut down when performing this move. I'll be sure to explain what that process is when I get there.

Anyways, after all that fun I went on home to relax some more, gearing up for a crazy day of training tomorrow before I head up to upstate NY to hang with Lindsey and her family. Can't wait to see my girl!

Last night I lost it; more so than I ever have in the gym. It reminded me of the SuperFit Games last January, when I just had zero ability to execute a specific movement, forcing me to DNF the workout. But this time around it was a bit different. I expected to perform, and I did not. It was an epic failure and it allowed me to grow more in the gym then I have in the past few weeks combined. If I am living on the edge at all times, last night I tripped over the edge. Thankfully I was able to grab an overhanging branch and get back up to that edge, and because of that I am a better man. I'll go into a little detail here, but I am in the process of writing a big article on failure.

I personally "enjoy" failure. I feel that without it, we fail to stay humble and keep an objective, critical perspective on what we are doing. Failing pisses me off, angers me, completely humiliates and crushes me; but in the end, when I am able to sit down and look back at what just happened, I can take a better view of it. I instantaneously have a massive amount of data that allows me to analyze whether or not my programming is as effective as it could be. I am able to honestly see my weaknesses and assess the best way to go about making them, well, not my weaknesses anymore. I'm not going to lie, having this point of view is not as easy as it might appear with me writing it. Most of the time this does not occur to me right after the workout is over. I generally have a handful of depressing, negative thoughts like: "I am horrible at this", "I should just quit", "I want a large pizza and ten beers". But the more I experience failure, the more I push myself to my physical limits, and I am able see the positive side of things so much quicker.

So, after a tough day, I woke up today ready to pick things up. I went to the pool for a 1200 meter anyhow workout. Still not very impressive by any means, but I feel a ton better than last time. My hope is that getting in the water as often as I plan in the coming months will result in very quick gains. Later on, Lindsey met me at the gym and I put together a confusing chipper. I say this because it was filled with tons of variations of common CrossFit exercises. I have been noticing lately that CrossFit is getting more and more strict about how things are performed: games style push ups, palms out muscle ups, heel on box box jumps, and on and on. While I am not necessarily opposed to this, I miss the concept of complete unconventionality. Why does a wall ball HAVE to be 10 feet? Why aren't two exercises combined? Why can't a plyo box, or a KB, or a bar or anything, be used for a totally different reason than generally prescribed? I totally understand having standards to all exercises, but why can't the standards be different on a regular, or random basis. CrossFit calls for the unknown and unknowable, so, I enjoy sticking to that here and there. Expect to see some of that in February by the way...(you'll know what I'm talking about very soon!).

For time do:3 x 6 pull ups to 6 toes to bar (unbroken you just perform 6 of each back and forth for three rounds)20 wall balls to a 15 foot target 20#50 air squats20 KB snatches each arm 53#100 double unders20 GHD back extensions50 walking lunges (total steps)20 jump overs 24" box (just jump over it, turn around, jump back over it)12 pull ups to crawl-unders (I secured a PVC pipe in my 16" plyo boxes with sandbags. Perform a pull ups, crawl under the PVC, that's one rep)

I completed this in 13:36 and was done. My back and neck were so tight after yesterday's debacle with HSPUs that once I hit the KB snatches, I started to tense up a bit. The back extensions and finally the crawl-unders were a deadly combo. I probably would have enjoyed this a bit more had I not been so tight; but, it was a total blast. My mind was racing because I was able to recognize everything I was doing, but something was off, just slightly. Pretty cool. I strongly suggest doing this sort of thing at least once or twice a month, just to keep the body guessing.

Video is being edited...

Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

Tomorrow is a rest/travel day that has Lindsey and I flying back east for a bit over week to hang with family. I will try to post as much as I can, but I am sure I'll skip a day or two with how much I'll be moving about. Look for an update on the CrossFit Community Month soon, and a HUGE announcement!!

Had a litte double-dip today starting with a nice, hilly 5k in the morning (rolled in at just over 23 minutes, should be better than that, but with the hills, I wasn't all that dissapointed). In the evening I had max effort strict presses with an absolutely killer metcon. When I failed at 170# on the press (I was able to get it locked out on my final set, but with a massive struggle) I realized a little something, I have been beating my head against the wall for way too long wih hopeful gains. I'll get into that in a second here.

The metcon, well, the note in my log book says it all...wow. 3 rounds of a 500 meter row, 10 squat cleans at 135# and 5 handstand push ups. Now I am sure t would have been a tad easier if I could actually rep out the HSPU's, but to be honest, I am feeling so much better with these, and felt good with my time of 11:53. I know that unbroken HSPU's would get that well under 10 minutes, but I gave the rows and cleans my all, so I'm pretty happy. Yeah, that crushed me!

So on to my shoulder crap. I hav always been a pretty big advocate for supplimental training, as in, additional exercises that assist growth in specific areas to help improve gains. But sometimes, as is the case with anyone in anything, I can get caught up in certain things and totally forget the most efficient and effectove ways to train. You see, I have been so focused on getting my strict press numbers and HSPU's up, that all I have been doing is strict press and HSPU's. And this is just NOT the way to go about getting better. I have failed to perform isometrics, eccentrics and modifications of the desired movements with DB work and unilateral work. When I came to this realization (thanks to a great conversation with 1st String strength coach Matt), I also realized that I have been neglecting these additions with all my other moves. I need to mix in box squats, bottom up squats and presses, rack pulls, single-limb movements and isometrics. Given how my progress has been, I don't want to change things up too much, but I know mixing these in during de-loading periods, and as additional supplemental exercises, I'll see some added punch to my already speedy improvements.

This is proof that even trainers need to surround themselves with fitness minds. Nobody knows it all, and even the most knowledgeable (and I am NOT one of those people) will benefit from outside advice. Here's to always learning and keeping your mind open! Oh yeah, I had steak last night for the first time in probably over a year. Not too bad at all!